Saturday, 30 April 2016

This week, out
of the three prompt options I picked, ‘The Road’. Again, I found it hard to
settle straight in to an idea but there is a road not far from me where a lot
of hitchhikers (yes, they still do) try to thumb a lift, usually heading down
to the coast and at first I thought I could use that, but there was something
too easy, as if I shouldn’t allow the first thing that pops into my mind as
that is probably too common a suggestion and pops into other minds first too.
Then from that idea of thinking about what sort of person would be thumbing a
lift I thought of what it would be to describe someone walking past a
hitchhiker and perhaps discussing person and the reasons why they didn’t stop.
But I didn’t like that either so I then thought about just staring at someone
on a road which changed to following someone on a road and that ended up
getting my mind geared up for describing someone walking down a road. Then from
nowhere the suggestion of being in a work van stuck in traffic came to mind, as
that would allow me to have the time to study a person, i.e. if we are not
moving fast then it seems realistic to be able to use that time to describe a
person. And that was that. I started writing and the below came out. However, I
panicked when I realised I only had two minutes left and I hadn’t picked a
title. I was stuck! I couldn’t think of one, then as two minutes became one,
and then thirty seconds I thought I may actually mess up and not submit in time
so I wrote ‘Destination’ without knowing why and not being happy with it but
managed to submit the story in time. Afterwards, when I had calmed down I
thought that actually, that’s not too bad a title. It sort of describes the
fact that the people didn’t just know who the person walking was, but they
didn’t know where he was going either, and knowing that may have made them
think entirely differently about the man and I wonder then how they would have
described him?

Luckily for me,
this entry was shortlisted this week! Which is very nice. I didn’t win but
being shortlisted in the top three for the first time was a rewarding feeling,
even if I didn’t think this was my best piece, yet it gives you the spur you
need every now and again.

As a reminder,
this is a weekly competition where the online entry opens at 5.30pm and closes
at 6pm giving you thirty minutes to think of, write, edit and submit a short
story from one of three given word prompts. £4 entry and £50 first prize. Here
is the link to the site: http://www.write-invite.com
They also have other competitions and services that may be of interest.

Destination

The man in the white shirt with long grey hair and thin, sharp
features had been walking ahead of them for at least half an hour.

Ron and Tony were stewing in their
hot, sweaty seats. The work van's cabin was full of empty water bottles, crisp
and biscuit packets which were all cracking loudly in the humid air. Both
windows were fully open but it was one of those summer evenings where the
pollution of city roads and low clouds combined to make it feel like the air
had been sucked from the atmosphere. Ron was fidgeting more, shoving his feet
amongst the piles of rubbish to try and get a decent stretch. Tony was fiddling
with the radio.

'Where do you think he's going?' Ron
asked. Tony looked up from the dashboard.

'The hippie?'

'Yeah,'

'Pfff, who knows. Looks like he's
scrabbling about for butt ends and pennies to me,'

'We've been behind him pretty much
all this road and he ain't stopped once, just keeps traipsing along like he's
stoned or something,'

'Maybe he is, looks like he knows how
to roll a fat one,'

The van crept along. The car in front
was a new looking Mercedes with an average fifty something suit and tie tapping
on the steering wheel to Magic FM. Ron and Tony had the luck of a pretty young
thing for a few side roads, low cut top in the heat and small round sunglasses.
They didn't quite manage to get her attention despite their heads bobbing up
and down and left to right to catch her in the mirrors. Now it was the suit and
they had turned their attention to the man.

'It's funny, he sort of looks like
he's got money, you know what I mean? Hair's a bit, like, ageing rock star,
don't you think?'

'Yeah, he does a bit,' Tony was still
messing with the radio and wasn't paying full attention.

'Sad really,'

'Eh?'

'You would have thought someone who
looks like that would be doing well at his age, he's sixty at least I reckon,'

'How d'you know he's not doing well?'

'Well, just look at the clothes. And
the way he walks,'

'Leave the poor bastard alone, maybe
he's just had a hard day, he don't need you going on!'

The traffic let up and they managed a
good spurt forward. A minute of constant movement and they had nearly caught up
with the man again.

'Nah, look at him, unshaven, rough as
mate,'

'You're being a bit bloody harsh,
let's see how your doing at his age,'

The man's pace hadn't altered. His
face had kept front and the occasional beeping from frustrated drivers and
pedestrians passing him hadn't bothered him.

'He's gonna make it to the junction
before we do, bloody traffic,'

'See, there you go. He knows what
he's doing,'

'Hope I have better things to do than
wander the streets when I'm older,'

'Give it a rest, you don't half go
on. What's got you so interested? He's just a normal bloke walking up the
road,'

'Something different about him,'

'When you've got as many miles
clocked up on the road as he has, the last thing you want is some young cocky
bastard looking you up and down. How do you know he ain't a rock star walking
back home after a three day bender? Huh? He could be a millionaire, how would
you know?'

'No chance, he's a scruffy drunk
who's been kicked out the bookies,'

The last section of road before the
traffic lights cleared and Ron and Tony speed up and past the man. They took a
quick look in their mirror before a convertible BMW with two women drew up next
to them waiting to turn at the lights and they forgot all about the man. The
lights turned green and Ron and Tony talked about the attributes of the BMW
driver and never saw or thought about the man walking and minding his own
business again.

&http://www.flash500.com/index_files/wfq16.htmAs the title indicates it is for flash fiction with a maximum word count of 500.You can find my entry below in blue but to repeat myself (which I do often) I will post this ‘disclaimer’ whenever I post a short story entry: I decided that 2016 would be the year I enter competitions and at present I have around four or five a month on my list. Every time I enter one I will copy the story as a blog post ready to go and share it with you. Let me put my hands up in surrender now, I do not expect to be shortlisted or win any of them. That’s not an easy excuse, it’s just being honest. I don’t think these will be my best work and I have a lot of years ahead of me in which to improve my writing but this is my reasoning… it’s more of a compromise. I have two main objectives this year, to grow my company (a little bit) and complete the first draft of my novel. They are ongoing projects that occupy my mind night and day, however, I have a lot of scraps of ideas that I have set aside (as I won’t be spending time developing any short stories to self publish this year) and I felt bad at just leaving them to rot. They are playing on my mind so why not use them to enter short story competitions? The ones I self publish are always a minimum of 10k words (up to around 20k) and take me weeks to work on but the competitions can be as short as 500 words. I think that by allowing myself to spend a few hours (at most) on these entries I will firstly feel better than I am keeping myself busy when not working on the novel (which again, is often), secondly improve and test out new ideas or techniques (that may come in handy later) and thirdly reach out to new people and new content which is naturally a frightening thing because you are exposing yourself to people who are better than you. That’s the only way to learn though and I have never shied away from that. The only negative is that I know I won’t be spending enough time on the stories to show off the best I can do, but that’s the compromise isn’t it? I get a lot out of it without spending huge chunks of time. You can’t have both. So, is that a good enough excuse for you? (By the way - Blogger simply refused to 'justify' align this paragraph, sorry.)

The Mound

A walk past the mound sorts things out. Puts things in perspective.

I stopped myself from calling Sandra. It would
have been the third, no, fourth time today. That’s plain ridiculous. Could I be
any more embarrassing? Crying all the time. Manage two words… then tears. God,
it’s humiliating. In fact, it’s more than that, it’s… sad. Am I really that
much of a loser? Enough is enough. Today is the end of it! When that dark cloud
chases me I’m going to walk around the block and talk to the mound.

There’s a small patch of grass by a road near my house.
It’s vivid green and peppered with little yellow flowers. That’s because it’s
fenced off and no one can walk on it. There are four-thousand-year-old bodies
buried there. In a way it’s like a secret… out in the open! Hardly anyone knows.
People think the fence is for the house next door, but it’s not. It’s the Bronze
Age helping me out. How’s that for calling on a long distance friend! I wonder
what memories are buried with them? Was there a twenty-four-year-old girl
crying over nothing just like me? What was her everything and her nothing? That’s
what helps. Those bodies put me in my place. They look up and tell me there’s
nothing to worry about. Do they see me crying over things they can’t understand
exist and wonder why I am torturing myself? I have food and water at my command;
I must be a queen! What a view it must have been. All forest? What do they
think of me? Do they understand it wasn’t me personally that enclosed their
resting place as if a caged animal at a zoo? It wasn’t me that made London what
it is! Concrete and wires and electricity and pipes with the poor people there
and the rich people there. Would they be proud of me? What does it matter after
four thousand years? We’ve taken away their view. I wonder if they care about
what this land is called now? When did patriotism start? That’s why I like
talking to them. They are my family, my connection to old England… well, who
knows, France, Spain or Germany? Vikings? When were they? Where did they come
from? Not that they would have known anyway. That’s why it cheers me up. The ridiculousness
of it all. A simple mound of earth and grass reminds me of what matters. Underneath
the houses and the roads, all our signs and markings… the earth is still there…
we forget that, but it is, still there, always has been, always will be. We take
refuge in the precious moments we squeeze time for in the parks and the woods thinking
our real life is within concrete… but why?

Yes, a walk always makes me feel better.

Who’s
going to put a sign up and enclose me in four thousand years? No one.

Sunday, 10 April 2016

Here is my entry to last Saturday's weekly short
story competition over at http://www.write-invite.com.
Unfortunately I couldn’t enter yesterday’s because the competition starts at
5:30pm and there was the small matter of the Grand National at 5:15pm… No, I
didn’t pick the winner.

Anyway, there is no doubt I had a panic
with this one. I could not find the right way to finish it. Strangely, as I was
making a cup of coffee a few minutes before the competition was about to start,
I looked out of my kitchen window and saw in the wall opposite a brick that
seemed out of place with the others, much lighter as if it had been replaced.
It was on my mind when I sat down and when I saw the three ‘theme’ options I
immediately knew I would pick, ‘The Face’ as I had the idea of using that brick I had just seen as a face
in a wall. So, I started well enough, and took up nearly 25 minutes with
continuous writing… but the ending eluded me. I just couldn’t work out what I
wanted to do so I wasn’t particularly happy with it, but there we go, 30
minutes well spent regardless.

There’s always next week...

The Face Behind the Hedge

'Why
do you think they done it?' John asked. He stood with hands on hips, his head
leaning to the left and squinting with his right eye, as if the surprise
required a matching actor's pose.

'I have no idea,' replied Vicky, 'I like it though,'

'I mean, yes, I guess I like it,' John said, nodding. He took
his hands off his hips and placed them in his pockets. He kept the squint. He
watched as Vicky moved closer and took a careful look. 'Do you think it's been
here all this time?'

Vicky's nose was nearly touching the wall as she moved her head
up and down and left to right examining the brickwork. She wasn't entirely sure
what she was hoping to find but it seemed like the thing to do.

'Well, it must have been,' she eventually replied, stepping back
and standing next to John.

'Well I never,' John said, his squint had gone and he had
levelled his head.

'Certain,' John replied with a firm nod, 'We tidied up a bit, I
remember that but all of this side was more or less as it was. Do you remember
it was further up, where the roses are that we dug up and replaced? Before the
kids,'

'Yes, I think you're right, yep, yep.'

The couple remained side by side looking at their garden wall.
After a week of trimming, cutting, pruning, digging, planting and all other
manner of green fingered tasks they had finally got around to chopping down an
out of control hedge that ran from their kitchen wall several metres along the
wall until it abruptly ended and the main lawn took its place. Ten years of retirement
and this was one of the only outstanding tasks to tick off their to-do list.

'Have you got the camera?' Vicky asked.

'Oh, good idea. I'll go get it,' John hobbled to the back door,
the week's efforts taking its toll on his back, and went inside to fetch their
camera.

Vicky stood still and continued to look at the wall. A minute
later John rejoined her and passed the camera over. Vicky had always been the
one with the artistic eye. She took some photos, moved to one side to take some
more, then a few more from a different angle before stepping back to John and
nudging him forward so she could take a photo with him in it.

'Pretend you're putting your arm round it,' Vicky chuckled.

'Dear me, how do you know it won't cast a spell on me or
something?' John said back.

Vicky took the last photo and walked forward the few steps to
meet John and show him the shot. She turned the camera around and pressed the
button that brought up the most recent photo on the screen. It had come out
quite well.

On the wall that had been hidden by a hedge for as far as they
were aware, at least twenty years, was a patchwork of light, sand coloured
bricks arranged to look like a face. At some point in the past the original
wall must have been knocked down and whoever built it had played a trick and
put in the contrasting bricks. The rest of the wall was a deep, rusty brown-red
tone.

'I can't quite believe we've never seen it before,' John said,
it was the third time he'd said it in fact.

'Beyond me,' said Vicky.

They went inside to rest and put the kettle on. They
continued to debate the oddity into the late afternoon. It turned into a fun
game, guessing who it was for, why they had done it and that had led into
making all sorts of assumptions about the previous owner and who may have lived
there over the years. It was fascinating to think they had been sharing their
home with another human face all this time and they looked forward to checking
their emails to see what their children made of it.

Saturday, 9 April 2016

I sometimes use this blog as a way to
force myself to admit certain things. I don’t use it professionally, or as
professionally as I should rather, and I dread to think how many poorly written
blog posts I have in the archive. I also dread to think how many
new-year-resolution like promises I have set myself on here. This post is a cross
between resolution, confession and statement.

It won’t come as any surprise to people
who drink alcohol that as you age, hangovers increase in their ability to
render one totally bloody useless. If you’re reading this aged thirty or under,
you may have had your fair share of shocking hangovers where your head is
suffering 9.0 Richter scale devastation and you lose track of a day or two, yet
no matter how horrific the cramps, shakes, sweats, paranoia and guilt, should
there be an un-missable party that very night, mere hours after you were
contemplating religious conversion or emigration, then the chances are you
would be capable of dragging your backside out of bed or off the couch and
after one or two drinks, of which the first few gulps are similar to downing
battery acid barely preventing instant rejection through the nostrils, you are
back on top form, shouting at the barstaff for tequila shots and busting out
the caterpillar that the night before nearly resulted in a broken jaw. It’s
amazing how we do it, how we put ourselves through the cycle of
pain-euphoria-fear-joy. For the most part, despite occasional
humiliating/violent/financially ruinous/emotionally traumatizing experiences,
we have a great time and after a few days of feeling sorry for oneself, plenty
of water and cold showers, questioning looks at work and trembling glances at
bank balances, we look back with enormous fondness and spend the rest of our
lives retelling with gusto. It's not quite so clear cut trying all that when you are closer to 40 than 20.

Forget for now all the reasons why we
go out and have a good time and the consequences we are prepared to tackle, except one – to suffer the loss of the
following day. That is the single point of my blog post today and what I want
to talk about. I could write a thousand blog posts on the highs and lows of
drinking as there are innumerable subjects to discuss, yet today, this one is
important to me because it has been creeping up on me for a while now and is
something I have changed about my life.

I am no longer prepared to lose time because of hangovers. I am thirty six
years old and have no intentions of stopping drinking. Hopefully, should I
avoid the reaper for a while yet there will be lots of birthdays, Christmases,
stag do’s, Grand National’s (I’m writing this five hours before the race, come
on Silviniaco Conti you son-of-a-gun!) and other celebrations in which I’ll be
having a drink so this isn’t about giving up booze, no way. What it is about is
taking a serious and honest look at the way drinking is impacting the single
most important thing in my life, which is improving my writing.

Forget watching how much coffee you
drink, vegetable consumption, whole meal instead of plain ratio, omega five
intake and all that other stuff which is vitally important but rendered useless
in its fight against a Margarita & Whisky Sour overload. Also forget about
how much sleep you should get, going to bed early and sticking to a routine
business, again vitally important and what I am trying to do, but also speared
straight through the heart by the fatal just-one-more-syndrome. Forget
exercise, which I also love and take seriously, albeit in fits and bursts
(sorry for pun) because that too will only turn into the game of
find-a-big-enough-tree-to-vomit-behind-so-the-dog-walkers-can’t-see when trying
to do your hill dashes on a Sunday morning.

Yeah, I'll have another one, thanks. It may be early morning but after this last beer and a good four hour sleep I shall be in perfect condition to write my masterpiece!

The truth is that nothing is more disruptive
to me today, than drinking too much. It spoils not just the next day, but
because I am trying to be a responsible and well organized writer, the week.
You play catch up for days. That’s why this is a bit of a confessional, I have
to admit that I have a problem with drinking. Before you private message me the
number for a branch of the AA, I don’t mean in that way. I mean, I still think
I can drink and get away with it. I don’t drink a lot, and that, although a
good thing, is why I am still living in denial. I can’t handle a session
anymore yet I still think I can. It’s a lie! Alcohol, the great deceiver!

Here is the core of it: If I drink two pints or more then I cannot write the
next day. You may laugh, you may think that two pints isn’t much, and within my
society, my friendship group, my own sense of what I used to be, it isn’t!
Which is why I keep falling for trying it!

It’s become very clear to me over the
course of the last year that I need to up my game in terms of the amount I
write everyday. I am still struggling to be as serious as I want to be and a
lot of that is general procrastination issues and so on, yet there is another
element that I need to be honest about. I need to be able to wake up every day and
be in a clear-headed frame of mind in order to produce decent work. There is no
way around that, I am not writing enough. I will not get anywhere at my current
rate. I’ll use this very blog post as an example. I’m currently at 900 odd
words and it’s taken me twenty minutes, I’m not editing as I go or going to
re-read like I normally would with my fiction, but it’s a rate at which I am
comfortable at, and at which I know I can replicate. I didn’t drink last night
and I don’t have any upset stomach or cloudy head as a result and I can simply
get on with it. If I had a hangover, I may not even have got myself to the
laptop, but if I had managed it, my concentration span would be reduced and my
nervousness and self-consciousness at what I was typing increased. I wouldn’t be as quick
in referencing facts, events, words, synonyms or terms online and there is a good chance I
would have given up. I wouldn’t be able to think straight about the plot and
character, where I am going and my objective for the chapter or short story I
am on. It’s sounds so ridiculously obvious but it is something that actually
gets me very down. I am upset with myself if I don’t get any writing done in a
day, and that is made doubly worse if it is a self inflicted reason such as
drinking.

Listen, Christopher Hitchins or Charles Bukowski I ain’t.

I don’t feel ashamed saying that. To
compare yourself to others is a futile task and as much as there is a certain
aura with people who have iron cast constitutions, there is no point chasing it
if you haven’t got it! It’s a fool’s errand that will lead you in to a bad way.
I have no intentions of trying to keep up with the people around me in social
terms, it is not a point of reference for me anymore. The only thing that is
important to me is creating something meaningful with my writing and to
complete something as quickly as a I possibly can. Things that block my writing
have to be examined, as they should be considered my enemy.

I like going out and meeting my
friends. I really enjoy sitting at one of my local pubs and drinking a pint
while reading. I don’t want to miss out. I must be truthful and I must confront
the issues in my life at the same time though and this year has taught me an important
lesson. I don’t want to turn 40 and still be talking about writing my first
novel. I must put a stop to all the things that are blocking my writing as
otherwise I will be.

So, please excuse the poor-me type
reflection of this blog post. It's nothing serious really, just another part of growing up and trying to be more responsible, being aware of how quickly time goes and using it to your best advantage. The subject has been playing on my mind for a
while now so I thought I would share it with you. If I could wake up every day
bright as a button with a clear head and sprightly step and jump on to the
laptop ready to go then brilliant. The thing is, I can. If I do a number of
things that enable that, I have the capability, but I am harming my opportunities.
I will blog about the huge number of other
things that are in my life and go towards negating my writing output another time, but for
today, I will admit something that every adult (and rascal teenager) already
know. Hangovers are the bloody worst.

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Below is text taken from my company website, which I added as a separate tab on my
blog (above) so I thought I would share it as a post too. It is primarily aimed at people in London but if anyone would
like to critique or give feedback on the offer then I would welcome your
message. You can reach me at r.rankine@thinkingplainly.com.

As you
will see I am not in anyway trying to compete in the UK self publishing market.
I am offering a local, personal and face-to-face service that will only benefit
people who are interested in developing an author platform on a long term
basis. I make it quite clear what I can and cannot do and I also make it quite
clear that people who are already in-the-know about self publishing, are
literate in social media, marketing and the work involved should a) do it themselves,
or failing that, b) use one of the big national or global companies. I only
want to work with people who want to be part of a team, rather than simply
having an account, or purchasing an off the shelf process, and see themselves
at the start of a very long journey. It seems a lot of money up front and of
course, it is. However, as I have learnt and developed on my own journey I know
that there are certain things that should no longer be thought of as optional
or desirable if you want to produce a good product, and as an example half of
the price goes towards a copy edit and manuscript report. Some people may feel
confident in their work and do not feel the need for further examination or
editing, and that is partly what self publishing is about so I don't blame
them, I think that is great, but it goes back to what I said above, they should
feel ready to do it themselves in that case. I want people who still need to
develop, who know there is more to learn, but want to do so with others and
aren't quite there yet... they have not been selected by agents or publishers
and aren't capable of starting on their own. Hopefully by working with like
minded individuals, even if it is just for one book, we can enable new writers
to go it alone or build up their confidence and author platform so that they
have success with contacting agents and publishers with future works.

I will be
adding photos and video to this package over the coming weeks and months and
will tailor the offer as it develops. I know it is a lot of text but as I have
said, I am quite specific about what I can offer. I hope it doesn't come across
too bluntly but I believe in being open and honest with people's expectations
and that is exactly what I would have wanted when I first started thinking
about self publishing.

Do You Want to Self Publish with
Thinking Plainly?

Hello,

My name
is Robert Rankine and I am the director of Thinking Plainly Limited. If you are
considering self publishing let me take this opportunity to explain in more
detail the issues you should think about and whether or not self publishing
with Thinking Plainly Limited is for you.

I formed
Thinking Plainly Limited in 2012 as a way to be involved in the rapidly
developing self publishing industry. I - like the majority of people - had
always wanted to write and - also like the majority of people - had put it off
for years but I was also interested in the business side of writing and what it
meant to be ‘independent’. I was determined to learn more and I forced myself
to stop procrastinating and complete my first short story and make it available
on Amazon’s Kindle.

Four
years later… the company has its own website and social media presence, I have
been joined by two other writers and together we have self-published 15 novels,
novellas and short story ebooks & paperbacks on Amazon, Kobo, Nook, Google,
Scribd and Apple, with more in the pipeline. I have a learnt a lot along the
way but by no means is the journey complete, in fact, it is just starting. The
publishing industry is a vast and complex animal and there are no easy short
cuts to success but with hard work, passion and commitment we have the
opportunity to build the foundations of a writing future.

What
these four years have taught me is that one of the most important resources is
time. A common response I receive when speaking to people about writing and
self publishing is that you simply do not have the time to spend hours and
hours learning the ins and outs of all the various distributors, how to convert
text to ebooks or layout a manuscript, set up correct margins and page
dimensions, connect with editors, design a cover, build a website, create an
author Facebook page and so on… all of which is vital… but indeed, takes up a
lot of time. Like many things, at first it seems a simple proposition but when
you look a bit closer the range of options and the scale of work involved can
be overwhelming.

All
you want to do is write and build an audience.

That’s
why I am now offering a ‘Self Publishing Package’. I want to take the burden of
the basics away from you and allow you to focus on writing… but more than that
I want to foster a community of writers who can rely on each other for help and
advice. I always wanted to grow the company at some stage but in a way that
helped us all to become better writers, which is why I haven’t rushed into
anything up to now and I’m still in no rush. I have no inclination to be a big
company for its own sake, by selling a service simply to become a faceless
factory that churns out works but doesn’t have any sense of community. There
are some brutal truths to be learnt in the creative arts and one of the most
important is to be honest with yourself. I am not as good a writer as I want to
be… but one day I will be. You are probably not the writer you think you are…
but one day you could be. No one likes being rejected and if you have gone
through the trials of submitting works to publishers, magazines and websites
only to be told that you are not what they are looking for then you have two
responses… give up… or work harder and try again. That’s why self publishing a
book as a stand alone process has never appealed to me, nor do I want to sell
someone a stand alone service.

Is
Thinking Plainly right for you?

I am of
the mind-set that if you want to write, it is because you love writing and not
because you think it is a good way to become famous and earn your fortune.
There is space in this world for everyone and if you want to write because you
want to become famous and earn your fortune then good luck to you! I wish you
success and there is no reason why you cannot achieve those things. There is
also space for people who write for a specific audience because that is what’s
popular right now and are happy to change genres or styles when a new audience
appears. There is space for people who only want to write a single book for
their child’s birthday and have no intention of writing another. There is space
for everyone and anyone because I firmly believe you should be able to do what
you want to do and no one has the right to criticize or get in your way.
However, as much as I encourage you to follow the right path for you and it is
great that you know what you want, there is only a limited amount I can do for
someone who is looking for quick results and I would much prefer to guide you
to another company that can satisfy your needs. There are many very good companies
out there with fantastic resources and I encourage you to research them. If you
are looking into self publishing for any of the reasons above then I do not
have the size or scale of resources you require. Rather, I am interested in
people who enjoy writing for its own sake, think they have something to say,
and want to improve. I want people who are looking to grow and develop. I want
people who are honest in their expectations and know there is improvement to be
made and ready to work extremely hard. I want people who want to be part of a
team and move onto bigger things when the time is right.

Why
do I keep saying ‘team’ when you are paying for a service?

Although
you are paying for a service you are also joining a team. It’s part of the
deal. I want Thinking Plainly to consist of individual writers all working hard
on their own particular works but with the confidence that comes from having a
group of like-minded people around them they can call on for support. It is a
collaborative effort. Your success is our success. Every single person I meet I
learn something from and by sharing our experiences and knowledge we can all
improve. Let’s be honest, if we were all writing Man Booker Prize winning
material we wouldn’t be self publishing (well, actually, I have something to
say about that later if we ever meet…) You may not be aware that marketing and
promotion are arguably the biggest keys to growing your audience. Your job
doesn’t finish when the book is finished. This is where self publishing can be
a disappointment. People feel discouraged when they don’t receive hundreds of
reviews and big sales. If you have investigated the publishing and self
publishing market you will understand the vast number of works put on sale
every year and the field of competition you are diving head first into. It can
swallow you up, keep you under and without investing serious time and effort
you’ll disappear without trace. The majority of self publishing authors don’t
have the marketing budgets or industry contacts to get on television, advertise
on the sides of buses or in radio spots. It is an entirely personal endeavor…
you are responsible for marketing your own work… but by joining with us and
growing the team you can have the foundations of an author profile ready to go
and importantly, have the support of others with your writing; my view is we
can do so much more together. If every person that joins us promotes all the
other writers on their blogs, websites, tweets, social media posts, mailing
lists, etc. amongst other things, we can reach far more people than we could on
our own. Yes, it is difficult to reach an audience, and yes it will be a lot of
work for you, but it is the most rewarding feeling to see your work available
and being read. After all the warnings I have just mentioned, it may seem like
I am purposefully putting you off! In a way I am! I just want to be honest with
you. I have met such wonderful people through my journey in writing and self
publishing and despite the seemingly constant angst that comes with the
creative process it really sets a determination in you to progress and improve…
isn’t it great to be able to call yourself a writer! I want to work with people
who see Thinking Plainly as joining a team of developing writers, in all aspects,
not just the act of writing a story, but improving your editing skills, your
communication skills, your publicity skills and your business skills.

One
Stop Shop & Do You Need Us?

It is a
lot of money to buy a one off product but perhaps not so much if you consider
it a long-term investment. I want you to become a confident writer and one that
eventually gets a literary agent and a book deal from a mainstream publisher.
Or at the very least feel you are able to self publish on your own and go your
own way should you wish to. If you think you are capable of that right now,
then you don’t need me. Let me give you a few more examples of why you may not
need me… if you are a whiz at social media, if you are a whiz at self
publicity, if you are a whiz at dealing with designers, quite frankly, if you
have the time, energy and resources to self publish then I would recommend
doing it yourself! That is why the price for the Thinking Plainly Self
Publishing Package is fixed and not a menu pick-and-mix. It is for people who
need assistance in every aspect of self publishing, not just a helping hand
with one specific task. I believe that every work requires a copy edit, it is
essential, not a choice. I believe every work requires an original cover, it is
essential, not a choice. I could go on. I have set up this offer because I
think it forms the basis of what a professional writer needs to be. I want to
offer the tools to people and hopefully watch as you build. Again, if you are
someone who is willing to work with several different contacts, one for
editing, one for artwork, one for typography, one for website design, one for
social media design… then you don’t need us! That is what self publishing is
all about, doing it yourself! Go for it. It is how I started. However, if that
hassle is something that makes you apprehensive or fearful then working with us
will help to take away that stress and anxiety. For instance, you may feel
strong in your commitment to writing but hopeless when it comes to social
media, or you may feel you have lots of ideas but don’t know how to turn those
ideas into a finished product. Or as I started with, you simply may not have
the time to invest and want help. I have been through the process of self
publishing many times and fully understand the frustrations and pitfalls that
independent writers go through. Think of Thinking Plainly as the ‘launch-pad’
from which to build your author profile. We are friendly, approachable and
interested in being a team that makes sure we never give up, and you in turn
may be the person that contributes to other people not giving up!

Our 2016 Price:

£3000

We will:

Provide a copy edit
and report of your manuscript

Create an original
cover

Convert your
manuscript into an ebook and put it on sale with the major distributors:

Convert your
manuscript into a print-on-demand paperback for sale through Amazon

Add your author
profile to our website

Provide an ISBN for
your paperback

Set up your author
social media platforms and blog

Create your own
author website (*but please note there is an annual renewal fee for this*)

There is
a lot more to go into, those are just the headlines to make it easy to
understand our offer. If you decide to get in touch then we will discuss in
much more detail all the stages and tasks involved before you make a decision.
All of the above is undertaken with a personal approach. We want your opinion
and for you to feel part of the process so nothing is done without your input.

Please
be warned though! As I have explained, there is a lot of work involved in self
publishing and you are responsible for the marketing and promotion of your
book. We will work as a team for all the reasons I have explained above but
ultimately it is up to you to get out there and promote yourself. Self
publishing can be very disappointing if you do not take this seriously. I want
you to be as informed as you possibly can so it is important you know what we
can’t do.

We cannot:

Put your works in
bookshops

Produce hardback
versions of your books

Get you an agent

Guarantee you
sales!

These
are long-term aims for Thinking Plainly Limited and something we will be
working on in the years to come but it is vital we set out our package clearly
and honestly so you can set yourself realistic expectations. Again, as I have
already said, if you are confident about working on your own then you don’t
need us and there are many great companies out there to investigate. If you are
interested in self publishing in order to get your books in front of sales and
literary agents as part of the process and undertake a short or long print run
then you need to approach one of the larger national companies, or simply
persevere with approaching established traditional publishers. I have some
questions listed at the end of this text that you should read, and it ends
with: What do you want from self publishing? Consider that now. What do you
hope to gain by self publishing? What outcomes are you looking for, or expecting?
What are the reasons you feel you want to spend money on this venture? Really
think carefully because the answers will inform you as to which company you
should approach.

Location

For the
immediate future I am looking for people based in London, UK. I want to meet
people face to face and talk directly about your situation. I want this to be a
personable journey for you, no formal office hours or contact forms, let’s
start as we mean to continue, with an honest conversation. We can meet up for a
coffee or talk over the phone without any obligation on your part. However, I
do not want to discourage anyone based outside of London from contacting me,
sorry if you have read up to this point thinking that this could be an
interesting opportunity for you - if you want to talk anyway then please get in
touch. I know that technically we can set up all the things you need without
meeting in person and discuss things over the phone or by Skype but again, I
have to be honest and ask you to double check whether or not the other larger
and more established self publishing companies out there would be better for
you. Part of the joy of this journey is physically interacting with people.
Marketing and promotion via social media can be extremely isolating (not to
mention the actual writing process itself!) and getting together with people to
explore ideas, discuss suggestions and debate your work is a fulfilling
activity. If you have ever been part of a reading group or book club or
attended a writing course or study group, you will appreciate that the buzz of
engaging emotionally with the creative process is enormously motivating and
pushes you on. That’s what I want Thinking Plainly to be.

What
is the next step?

Thank
you for taking the time to read this. I hope you appreciate my honesty in
setting out our offer. It’s not for everyone and is certainly not intended to
compete with the larger companies. I am not interested in setting up false
hopes in people, you need to be realistic, honest and most of all, prepared to put
in some hard work to further your writing.

If you
are interested in our ‘Self Publishing Package’ please send an email to info@thinkingplainly.com
explaining your situation, what you are working on and your contact details. We
can arrange a telephone call, a skype call, or even better a coffee meeting as
I would love the chance to meet you, show you our current publications and
discuss in person if we are right for each other.

Before
you commit we will talk through your situation and your project. My colleagues
and I will read an excerpt of your manuscript and tell you whether or not we
feel it is ready. If it is, then great we will move forward, but if not I will
encourage you to work at it and come back to us later. The argument that all
self publishing is vanity publishing is one that will continue for some time
yet, and I have my thoughts on it that I will be happy to share with you, which
will help explain why even though we are a small collective we won’t be taking
everyone that gets in touch.

If you
are not self publishing a full length novel but have a novella or short story
with a word count under 40k and still want to contact us then please do.
Depending on your situation we can negotiate a reduced fee that reflects the
reduced editing and manuscript formatting time. It is unlikely a short story
will be financially viable to produce a print-on-demand paperback although a
collection of short stories might be possible.

Royalties?

We will
take 10% of your sales after all distributor costs have been accounted for. We
spend this on marketing the company with the intention of increasing your
following. To confirm: you keep 90%. Keep in mind distributor royalty rates may
change and we will update these changes with you immediately. You are
responsible for complying with, and declaring, all legal tax requirements from
this income.

Copyright?

You
retain copyright of your work.

Contract?

You are
not an employee of Thinking Plainly Limited but we do have a non-binding
agreement. It is there to make clear what we can expect from each other. You
are under no obligation to stay with us and there is no notice period for
either you or the company. Should you wish to do things on your own in the
future, or if that global publishing house you love decides to give you a deal
then fabulous. Remember us in your memoirs...

Genres?

We will
consider all genres, it is the quality of the work and the shared ethos we are
interested in. Although we want work that is challenging and demanding we will
not progress with any works that promotes hatred or prejudice of any kind.

Sales
Figures?

You will
receive a breakdown of all sales from all distributors showing the calculations
for royalty rates. We believe in full transparency (except seeing other
writers’ figures, that’s private of course) so what the company knows, you know.

What
does a copy edit mean?

We do
not want Thinking Plainly to simply be an automated business. We want it to be
a community of writers all supporting each other so we won’t simply accept any
manuscript to self publish, it has to have artistic merit. That is why a copy
edit is compulsory. We will undertake a spelling and grammar check and offer
unbiased opinions on the main elements of your work such as the characters,
plot, dialogue and overall structure. There is a certain level of negotiation
with regards editing because you may argue a stylistic approach to some
elements… but then again, sometimes things are just wrong! You will receive a
detailed manuscript report and will be expected to make the recommended changes
or improvements before we move on (That doesn’t include formatting the
manuscript, we do that for you, so don’t worry if it’s in a messy state).

Cover
Design

We want
our books to look professional and stand out which is why we will create an
original artwork and layout. Pre-designed templates can be amazing but they’re
just not for us. If your story is original then we believe your cover should be
too. Like everything, there will be a discussion with you first before we
commit to any one idea.

Author
Website

As well
as having a page on our company website we think it is essential you have an
individual author website too so your readers can learn more about you. The
first year is included in the package price but the annual renewal price with
our web hosting company is currently £99 plus VAT.

Blogging?

Blogging
is an important activity to express yourself, build up followers and have a
discourse with your readers. We want to make sure all authors are writing a
regular blog. It will be set up for you along with the social media platforms.

Social
Media?

Social
Media is the single most important resource for a self publishing writer to
build up an audience. We will create your author profile on all the major sites
(Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest as well as the book site
Goodreads and any available distributor author pages such as Amazon Central).
It is then for you to run but always with the support and advice of Thinking
Plainly Limited. We have lots of ideas and suggestions on ways to promote
yourself using social media and will be recommending you undertake tasks such
as contacting book bloggers and reviewers. As I said above, you are part of a
team and are not left to deal with this on your own.

Filmed
Interview

If you
would like to have a ten minute author interview for use on YouTube or your
website then I can arrange this for you with a professional filmmaker for an
extra £300. The digital file will be yours.

British
Library Legal Deposit and Nielsen UK Book Agency

If you
are self-publishing a paperback we will provide an ISBN from the UK Book Agency
for your book and deposit a copy with The British Library and other national
libraries as required by law.

Second
book… or third, fourth and fifth!

The
whole point of building up a community is that it is ongoing. Once you have
self published your book the work has only just begun! As well as progressing
with your social media following and building an audience we want you to keep
writing too. We all want to write - it is our passion - that is why we are
taking this terrifying leap in showing people our work. We want our writers to
have the confidence of showing their ideas to each other and asking for their
thoughts and advice. That is what collaboration and teamwork is about. As a
company we will offer a reduced fee for your second (and third, fourth and
fifth…) book so as to only cover the expenses of the core processes such as
editing and cover design. We want you to grow and develop as a writer while
still sending your work to mainstream publishing companies and building your
following.

Moving
on?

We want
you to send your works to established agents and publishers and we wish you all
the best with it. That is why we are joining together… to improve. Once you
have the basics, you can build! Very rarely does your first attempt result in a
success and you shouldn’t be discouraged. We all read about the exceptions,
those people who win awards and become ‘overnight’ sensations… but we often
don’t see the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. We don’t see how many
times that person has tried and failed and the years of hard graft they have
put in, if we did then I am sure we would see that an ‘overnight’ success is
not an accurate description. Being rejected or having poor first (or second or
third or fourth…) works doesn’t mean you stop and give up. It means you just
have to work longer and harder. We are interested in being better writers, and
in truth, writing is a lonely and isolating enough task as it is. That is why
we want to grow a network of writers to foster encouragement and just that
right amount of competitiveness! We want to see people succeed and it would be
humbling if Thinking Plainly were the company to help you along the way.

Questions For
You!

Have you contacted
any literary agents?

Have you worked
with an editor before?

Do you have any
experience in social media?

Do you understand
what Print-On-Demand is?

Have you read the
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook?

Have you researched
any self-publishing authors?

Have you researched
any self-publishing websites?

Do you follow any
self-publishing blogs or podcasts?

How much do you
know about the self-publishing market?

Have you considered
what your ‘Author’ profile would be?

How much do you
write? Have you other books/stories planned?

Do you understand
the term ‘Vanity Publishing’ and its implications?

Have you considered
the marketing effort required with self-publishing?

Are you prepared
for the amount of time needed to grow your social media presence?

Have you sent your
work to any traditional mainstream publishers and what were their responses?

Most importantly…

Is this a
passion or a financial endeavour?

&

Are you being
realistic in your expectations?

&

What do you
want from self publishing?

If you would like
to question and discuss any aspect of self publishing then please feel free to
get in touch without any obligation:

R.G Rankine

www.rgrankine.com

Follow me on Social Media

Dear all, if you would like to purchase any of my short story ebooks (they are all priced at the equivalent of £0.99/$0.99) then I have listed the Amazon links below but if you have another ereader you can go to my website: www.rgrankine.com and find the links for Nook, Apple, Google and Kobo. Thank you. Enjoy the blog :)

Disclaimer

Dear all, please note that I don’t check the links on my blogrolls that often so there may be some out of date or not working. I’ll do my best to remove or update when I can. I am not responsible for any of the websites that are linked below, they are for your reference and interest only and I take no liability for their services. If you would like your website listed below then please feel free to email me the details and I’ll add them. Thank you.